Several authors praised the smartness of the strike launch timing of Yorktown at Midway: Launch the VS/VBs first, as the need most time to gain altitude and reach target. Bring up, spot and launch VTs next. While they assemble, spot the fighters and launch them with a bit of a delay, as those are the fastest planes. This way, the full strike force will meet and assemble en route or better close to target. Supposedly Yorktown was the only one of the three carriers at Midway to have figured out the positive aspects of such a scheme. The other two would launch VFs and VS/VBs, let them assemble and circle the ship to wait for the VTs to launch (burning precious fuel while circling), and then leave together for the target area.

apparently the more 'conventional' sequence must have been used: On May 8, '42 Yorktown launched its first strike consisting of a total of 39 planes in a matter of 15 minutes. In such a short time span, am I correct to assume that the full strike must have been spotted on deck, with the fighters up front, scouts/bombers behind, and the VTs at the very end of the flight deck?Can somebody please confirm that? Would anybody have a listing of which planes participated in this strike?Surprisingly little is being released about Coral Sea as compared to what have been published here about Midway....

Working on the 1/350 Yorktown CV-5, I'm looking for some (any) photos of the lift mechanism for the midship elevator. I'm intending to open many of the roll up doors and that detail should be visible the many books I have on the subject neglect this bit of information, and Navsource isn't much better.

Working on the 1/350 Yorktown CV-5, I'm looking for some (any) photos of the lift mechanism for the midship elevator. I'm intending to open many of the roll up doors and that detail should be visible the many books I have on the subject neglect this bit of information, and Navsource isn't much better.

I am looking for an aftermarket model parts supplier, from whom I can obtain USN 5-in./38 cal. single guns, and the water-cooled Browning .50-cal. M.G.s, to accurately detail a prewar Yorktown (1937-ish). I am modding an Enterprise kit, which has only toy-like "lumps and blobs" molded into the flight deck galleries, the latter of which I am replacing with all-new stock.

I've had no problem locating aftermarket 5"/51 and 5"/35s, but neither look even close to the '38s. As to the M.G.s,, no luck either, only Oerlikons and wartime 1.1s.

I am looking for an aftermarket model parts supplier, from whom I can obtain USN 5-in./38 cal. single guns, and the water-cooled Browning .50-cal. M.G.s, to accurately detail a prewar Yorktown (1937-ish). I am modding an Enterprise kit, which has only toy-like "lumps and blobs" molded into the flight deck galleries, the latter of which I am replacing with all-new stock.

I've had no problem locating aftermarket 5"/51 and 5"/35s, but neither look even close to the '38s. As to the M.G.s,, no luck either, only Oerlikons and wartime 1.1s.

Any source suggestions are welcomed!

TIA,

Dan

Assuming you are talking 1/700, I believe I got the fine molds 5"38s and 1.1s.For the water cooled 50 cals I think I found two different brass sets, but I will have to check the manufacture when I get home. I usually buy from Freetime Hobbies, but I have used any number of different vendors depending on the availability of what I am looking for. Hope that helps!.

Need help finding a photo in a book. Yorktown's paper, the Yorktown Crier, had a cartoon in it, depicting Saratoga encased in a drydock, steaming along with a torpedo headed inbound. A destroyer is shown racing to take the hit for her, but Sara's captain stands on the bridge saying "That's okay, we'll take it!" I've read several descriptions of this cartoon, and I KNOW I've seen it somewhere, but I can't seem to locate it. I thought it was surely in RENDEZVOUS AT MIDWAY or THAT GALLANT SHIP, but no luck. Anyone else know where to find it?

_________________We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Many of us here have already seen how Dick J posted his insights about the Trumpeter CV-5 kit in another thread, confirming that the kit is indeed is overscale.

Still, this gave me an idea for those of us who are fixated on accuracy of dimensions: what if one used Tom's Modelworks Hornet hull- with the supposedly accurate 1/700 hull and corrected bow shape- and added it to the new Trumpeter CV-5 kit?

If the overscale Trumpeter CV-5 flight deck proves to be slightly too long, wouldn't one just simply trim it a little to fit the Tom's Modelworks hull?

From various sources I read online, the actual Hornet and Yorktown both seemed to have been 251.38 meters long overall. (are we even sure the corrected Toms Modelworks Hornet hull has accurate dimensions?)

Just got my kit this morning. The hull scales out at about 1/697, making it about as over scale as the Academy CV-6 hull is under scale (at 1/702 - 1/703). Both kits appear to be in the range to be "close enough" on scale. Unlike the Academy kit, all three elevators are molded into the flightdeck, meaning that they would have to be carefully cut out to depict a lowered elevator - and the deck is not scribed on the under side to assist with that. On the flip side, the Trumpy kit has all three elevators molded at the hangar level, unlike the Academy kit, which unusually has not depicted the well for the forward elevator extending down to hangar deck level, keeping the deck unbroken at the forecastle level. This is all the more strange on the Academy kit because the forward elevator is one of the two where the elevator is a separate piece at flightdeck level. (How do you depict that one in the down position if the space below doesn't go all the way down?)

The exterior hangar sides are molded separately on the Trumpy kit (not my favorite way, but I can live with that), but no interior structures are provided for the base below the island. Checking the instructions, for the most part, the light AA is correct for CV-5. There are two exceptions, however. One extra 20MM is placed in the starboard catwalk aft of the after 5" guns. That should be easily removed. Second, one of the "non-permanent" .50 cal MGs is not located on the short deck aft of (and one level lower than) the port side after 5" guns. The kit does have the extra part to allow one to be placed there though.

Now for the big question - hull shape. The shape looks quite good, especially compared to the Trumpy Hornet hull. In short - they actually fixed it! I even like this hull shape better than the Academy CV-6 hull, particularly in the bow flair below the forward 5" gun sponson. (The Academy kit has a slight, soft "knuckle" there.) The degaussing cable is generally correct for CV-5 and is not as "overdone" as the one on Academy's CV-6. (The CV-6 cable depiction makes somewhat too wide of a swath in the bow area.) Obviously, I haven't built the kit yet to determine if all else is as it should be, but I think the basic shapes are close enough that other issues with the kit that might crop up will be easily fixed by the after market community.

All thinks considered, I think that finally we might have a keeper!!

PS: There is no lower hull piece in this kit.

_________________"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

I think that this is a bit of overreaction to the scale discrepancy. For the 824.75' Yorktown class, the difference between 1/700 and 1/697 is about .06" As I said before, I think that it is close enough.

For what it's worth, I laid the 1/700 Trumpeter Yorktown waterline hull on the 1/700 Yorktown hull from Tom's Modelworks resin kit (bottom to bottom), and the two waterline profiles are nearly identical from bow to stern. The overall waterline length is also nearly identical.

I do have a small fit issue with the Trumpeter kit hanger deck placement into the hull at the stern (the hanger deck is a little too wide to drop into place properly and will have to be sanded to get a flush fit). This is the rounded edge end of the part. The relatively straight long runs on either side fit tightly into the hull but sit properly at the molded in level. (The hanger deck has molded in floor panel lines.)